English fee hike would hit Scottish universities

Published on Tuesday 17 March 2009 21:04

RAISING the cap on tuition fees in England would put Scottish universities at a disadvantage, critics said yesterday.

In a survey of English university principals, two-thirds of those questioned said they want the cap on tuition fees to be raised, with more than half saying they wanted it to be raised to 5,000 or more, or to have no upper limit.

Currently, institutions in England and Wales can charge up to around 3,000 per year.

But students living in Scotland and studying at Scottish universities do not pay fees, and the SNP government has ruled out any introduction.

Principals in Scotland have previously warned that increased fees in England could create a funding gap across the Border which would threaten Scotland's competitiveness.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives' education spokesman, expressed fears about a widening funding gap.

He said: "The potential consequences for Scotland if the cap for top-up fees were to be lifted are extremely serious.

"There are concerns in the university sector about Scottish institutions losing their competitive position compared to institutions south of the border due to more generous funding."

Dr Louise Richardson, the principal of St Andrews University, has expressed fears that raising the tuition fees cap would put Scottish universities at a disadvantage.

However, she said: "My sense of it is that isn't going to happen for a couple of years, and when it does it remains to be seen how they would do it. But it seems unlikely they would raise the cap completely."

Claire Baker, Labour's higher education spokeswoman, said: "While we don't know when or whether the cap will ever be lifted in England, it's true to say that any increased investment into universities in the rest of the UK does have implications for Scotland."

She added: "The SNP have pledged to keep university funding in Scotland at least on a par with funding elsewhere in the UK. Any increased investment in universities in England does therefore beg the question of the SNP as to how Scotland will keep up. So far the SNP have completely failed to answer it."

Universities UK, which represents the heads of higher education bodies, commissioned a study to examine the effect of different rises ahead of a review of the fees later this year.

The report questioned vice-chancellors from 12 universities, who said an average fee of around 6,500 would be needed to secure long-term funding for teaching. Raising fees to 5,000 would have little effect on students, but there was evidence that a level of 7,000 "may discourage some from enrolling in higher education".

It also said raising fees to 7,000 would leave average students with a total debt of more than 32,000 by the time they graduated from university.

FUNDS DILEMMA

BEFORE the last budget settlement,Scottish universities said they needed 168 million over three years – which they would match with private funding – to remain competitive with universities south of the Border, which have access to additional funds through tuition fees.

However, insiders in the sector do not believe the UK government will raise the cap before the next general election.

Many believe asking parents and students to pay more at a time of recession would be political suicide.